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9/21/2012
The Fort Worth Transportation Authority (The T) now estimates that TEX Rail will reach an average daily ridership of 18,100 by 2035, which would represent 1,500 more riders than the commuter-rail project's ridership projection issued in March, when the Federal Transit Administration (FTA) approved the project to enter preliminary engineering, The T officials announced yesterday. In a TEX Rail update, the agency also released a new cost estimate for the project.
"Based on current status of the corridor access agreements, project scope definition and project risks, such as federally-required positive train control, The T has increased its projected capital cost expenditures," officials said in a prepared statement. "With FTA applied contingency, escalation, and finance charges, these result in a total projected project cost of $960 million, in the year of expenditure dollars, up from $758 million."
The purpose of the financial plan submission is to document The T's financial capacity to construct and operate TEX Rail consistent with FTA requirements for grants awarded under the New Starts Program while continuing to operate and maintain its existing transit system, The T officials said.
In addition to the agency’s own rail reserves, it has commitments from funding partners including the cities of Fort Worth and Grapevine, Tarrant County, the state of Texas and the North Central Texas Council of Governments. Also, The T is working with its regional partners — Fort Worth, Dallas Area Rapid Transit, BNSF Railway Co., Union Pacific Railroad, Tarrant County and Dallas-Fort Worth International Airport — to reduce project costs.
The ridership and financial information was included in The T's annual project update report to the FTA. "I am pleased to report that The T's annual TEX Rail submittal to FTA shows TEX Rail is still scheduled to open in 2016 with no delays from last year"s schedule," said The T President Dick Ruddell. Other highlights of the update include: • Negotiations are nearing completion on deal points with owners of existing railroads to allow TEX Rail’s operation within their respective rights of way. • The T is following the National Environmental Protection Act process of updating environmental documents and gathering public input. Public meetings are slated for November in Fort Worth and Grapevine. • Stations in Haltom City and North Side now are projected to open in 2016 instead of in 2019.